Diane James

Diane James (20 November 1959-) was leader-elect of the UK Independence Party from 16 September to 4 October 2016, succeeding Nigel Farage.

Biography
Diane James was born on 20 November 1959 in Bedford, England, and she was educated at the the Rochester Grammar School and at Thames Valley University. In 2007, James was elected to the Waverley Borough Council as an independent, having fallen out with local members of the UK Conservative Party. In May 2015, she lost her seat to the Tories, but she was elected to the European Union's Parliament on 1 July 2014 as the United Kingdom's representative from southeastern England; she chose to join the UK Independence Party, a far-right populist party. In July 2015, she supported Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in an interview with Tory journalist Iain Dale, and she supported friendly relations with Russia due to both the UK and Russia disagreeing with the EU.

On 16 September 2016, James was announced as the new leader of the UKIP party, having won 46.2% of the votes cast in the election, the first woman to hold the post. However, she did not have the support of all of her colleagues and party officers, and she doubted that she had the authority to lead UKIP. On 4 October 2016, James announced her resignation as leader-elect of UKIP, and her predecessor Nigel Farage became the leader once more.